Do you know the difference between HDD and SDD?

How important are speed and durability when it comes to your Storage needs? Find out the differences between a regular hard drive and a solid-state drive so you can make an informed decision when purchasing your next computer.

In the past few years, solid-state drives (SSDs) have become standard equipment in ultraportable laptops. Even larger gaming laptops have switched to solid-state discs for their operating systems, while only a minority of low-cost computers still use hard drives (HDDs). These days, even the cheapest prebuilt desktop PCs have SSDs for their boot discs. Sometimes a desktop will include both, with the HDD serving as supplemental storage and the SSD serving as the primary operating system drive.

The question is, how do you choose if you have to pick just one?

Let's dive into the specifics that set solid-state drives (SSDs) apart from hard disc drives (HDDs), and I'll run you through the pros and cons of each to help you make your decision. 

The Evolution of Hard Disk Drives and Solid-State Drives

There is a lot of history behind hard disc technology, but it is being used today (in terms of computer history, anyway). The IBM 650 RAMAC hard drive, which was released in 1956 and used 50 24-inch-wide platters to store a huge 3.75MB of data, is depicted in well-known photos (Opens in a new window). Two commercial refrigerators could fit into the space required to store a typical 128Kbps MP3 file today. The RAMAC 350's usefulness was restricted to the public sector and the private sector until its eventual obsolescence in 1969.

What progress we've made!

In the early 1980s, a 5.25-inch diameter became the standard for PC hard drives; this was followed by the more common 3.5-inch desktop-class and 2.5-inch notebook-class drives. Over time, the internal cable interface has evolved from serial to IDE (now commonly called Parallel ATA, or PATA) to SCSI to Serial ATA (SATA). However, they all serve the same basic purpose of linking your hard drive to the motherboard of your computer.

In consumer PCs, 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives typically connect using SATA ports; however, many high-performance internal SSDs now connect via the quicker PCI Express interface.

Capacity has increased by a factor of over a million, from tens of thousands of megabytes to hundreds of thousands of terabytes. The storage capabilities of modern 3.5-inch hard drives reach 10 terabytes. While the SSD's origins can be traced back several decades, the device itself has a considerably shorter history. When it comes to technologies like bubble memory, their brief heyday in the 1970s and 1980s is long gone. Since current flash memory does not need to be constantly powered in order to maintain the data you place on it, it is the natural progression of this concept.

In the late 2000s, when netbooks were becoming popular, the first solid-state drives (SSDs) appeared. In 2007, solid-state drives (SSDs) of 1GB capacity were utilized in the OLPC XO-1 and 2GB Solid State Drives(SSDs) were used in the Asus Eee PC 700 series. These laptops' solid-state drive chips were soldered directly to the motherboard. SSD capacities rose alongside the functionality of netbooks and other ultraportable notebooks, standardizing the 2.5-inch notebook form factor. Manufacturers would just have to accommodate one type of drive bay, and users of laptops and desktops would be able to swap out their 2.5-inch hard drives with SSDs with ease. Time passed, and newer, smaller SSD form factors appeared, such as the mSATA Mini PCIe SSD card and the aforementioned M.2 SSD standard (which comes in SATA and PCI Express variants). Due to M.2's meteoric rise in the laptop SSD market, the 2.5-inch form factor is now mostly used by manufacturers to provide upgrades for desktop PCs and older laptops. The current state of the art in computer architecture is the M.2 form factor.

Disk Drives and Solid-State Drives: An Explanation

Commonplace among computers' non-volatile Data Storage options is the hard disc. To put it another way, unlike RAM, the information stored on a hard drive will not simply "disappear" when the computer is powered down. The information you've accumulated over the years, whether it's historical weather reports, a high-definition copy of the original Star Wars movie, or your digital music collection, is stored on a hard drive, which is essentially a metal platter with a magnetic covering. While the platters are spinning, a read/write head on an arm (or multiple arms) accesses the information.

A solid-state drive (SSD) is functionally equivalent to a traditional hard drive, but it stores data on interconnected flash-memory chips that can keep their information even when no current is being sent to them. These flash chips (commonly called "NAND") are superior in speed and reliability to the chips used in standard USB flash devices. Due to this, the cost of an SSD is higher than that of a comparable capacity USB flash drive.

SSDs, like thumb drives, are often significantly smaller than HDDs, giving PC makers more design freedom. Some types are designed to fit into the more commonplace 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch hard drive bays, while others can be put in a PCI Express expansion slot or even mounted directly on the motherboard.

Pros and Cons of HDD and SDD

SSDs are now the norm in mainstream systems and high-end laptops like the Apple MacBook Pro, which does not even provide a hard drive as a configurable option. However, hard drives are still available in older and more affordable systems.

On the other hand, hard disc drives (HDDs) are still available for use in desktop computers. Having said that, solid-state drives (SSDs) and traditional Hard Disk Drives(HDDs) provide similar functions for your computer: they start your system and store your programs as well as your personal information.

However, every kind of storage has particular qualities that set it apart from the others. What sets them apart from one another, and why would you choose one over the other if given the choice?

Which Is Better in Terms of Speed an SSD Or an HDD?

Solid-State Drives excel in terms of speed. A computer with a solid-state drive (SSD) will start up in significantly less than a minute, and most of the time in only a few seconds. It takes time for a hard disc to reach its operational speed, and even after that, it will continue to be slower than an SSD even under normal conditions of use. A computer, whether it's a Mac or a PC, that has an SSD will start up more quickly, launch and run applications more quickly, and transfer information more quickly. Whether you use your computer for entertainment, education, or business, having a bit more processing power at your disposal could mean the difference between completing your work on time and running behind schedule. An additional concern related to this is fragmentation.

Hard drives, which utilize rotating recording surfaces, function most effectively with files that are particularly large and are organized into continuous blocks. This enables the drive head to begin the read in one continuous motion and carry it through to completion. The term "fragmentation" refers to the process by which small pieces of huge files become dispersed throughout the disc platter of a hard drive when the drive begins to reach its capacity and begins to fill up. Hard drives can still get fragmented to the degree that it affects performance, despite the fact that read/write algorithms have been improved to the point where the effect is minimized by improvements.

SSDs, on the other hand, are unable to since they do not have a physical read head, which means that data can be placed wherever without incurring any penalty. This contributes to the SSDs' already rapid nature, making them even quicker.

To put it another way, in terms of numbers? The maximum read and write speeds of a conventional platter-based single hard drive won't go above 250 megabytes per second, whereas the peak transfer rates of a basic SATA-bus solid-state drive will often reach double that amount.

Depending on the generation of the SSD and the amount of PCI Express lanes that are supported, newer generations of PCI Express-based SSDs may be significantly quicker. They can easily reach speeds that are four times as fast as the most advanced platter drives, and the most recent PCI Express Gen 4 drives can achieve speeds of up to 7,000 MB per second or 3,500 MB per second, depending on the type.

They won't be able to read and write at those top speeds all the time, but as you can see, there is a significant gap between the two speeds.

Does SSD Cost More Than HDD?

In terms of cost per unit of data storage capacity, solid-state drives (SSDs) are more expensive than traditional hard drives. As of this writing, the cheapest 1TB internal 2.5-inch hard drives may be purchased for $40 to $60, while the cheapest 1TB SSDs can be purchased for roughly $80. It works out to 4–6 cents per gigabyte for a hard drive and 8 cents per gigabyte for an SSD. When comparing high-capacity 3.5-inch hard discs, the variations become more pronounced. The price per gigabyte can drop below 3 cents with a 12TB 3.5-inch hard disc selling for roughly $300 to $350.00.

Hard drives will certainly continue to be less expensive than flash memory for the foreseeable future because they use older, more proven technology. Though the price gap between hard drives and low-end SSDs is narrowing per gigabyte, the additional cash for the SSD may cause your system price to exceed your budget.

What are the maximum and typical storage capacities of an SSD and an HDD, respectively?

Larger capacity consumer SSDs beyond 2TB is extremely rare and expensive to find. Devices with 500GB to 1TB of Storage space are more common as primary drives in computers. The "basic" hard drive capacity for high-end laptops these days is 500GB, although, for cheaper SSD-based systems, that number can drop to 128GB or 256GB. Drives ranging in size from 1 terabyte (TB) to 8 TB are typically found in high-end computers, although users with large media libraries or those who create material will need even more space. The more space your computer has, the more files you can store on it. While cloud storage has its uses, such as storing documents that you intend to access from your phone, tablet, and computer, local storage is more cost-effective because it requires only a one-time purchase and no ongoing fees.

Disk Storage: Solid State Drives vs. Hard Disk Drives Power, Volume, and Duration of Lifespan

When in use, even the quietest hard drive will make some noise. (The reading arm makes rhythmic up-and-down motions while the drive platters spin.) Disk drives with higher transfer rates will typically produce more noise than those with lower transfer rates. Given that they are not mechanical, SSDs are completely silent. In addition, an SSD saves energy since it does not have to begin the process of reading data by spinning up a platter. As a result, the SSD is more efficient because none of the energy it uses is lost to friction or noise. For a desktop computer or a server, this means saving money on the monthly energy cost. More time can be shaved off of the battery life of a laptop or tablet. There's also the problem of how long people live. SSDs do degrade over time (each cell in a flash-memory bank can be written to and erased a limited number of times, measured by SSD makers as a "terabytes written" or TBW rating), but with the advent of TRIM command technology, which dynamically optimizes these read/write cycles, you're more likely to be throwing away the system due to obsolescence than you are to experience read/write errors with an SSD. There are a number of diagnostic tools available to help you determine if your hard disc is nearing its estimated end of life. Since hard drives rely on physical recording methods, they too will eventually wear down from repeated use. When longevity is considered independently of portability and durability, it comes out even.

Comparing the Life Span

Due to the lack of mechanical elements, data on an SSD is less likely to be corrupted in the event that your laptop bag is dropped or your system is jolted while it is running. When the drive is powered down, the read/write heads are typically parked, but when the drive is in use, the heads are flying over the drive platter at a distance of a few nanometers. Also, there is only so much that parking brakes can do. An SSD is a way to go if you're rough on your tech.

Types and Forms

There is a physical limitation to the miniaturization of hard drives due to the utilization of spinning platters. Smaller 1.8-inch spinning hard drives were being developed for some time, but development halted at around 320GB, and nowadays, smartphone makers solely use flash memory for primary storage.

SSDs don't have this restriction; thus, they can keep getting smaller as technology improves. There is an SSD option for 2.5-inch laptop drives, but this is solely so that they can be used in already-existing drive bays. These drives are available in 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, and 120mm lengths, and they are progressively adopting the M.2 form factor we stated above.

SDD and HDD Best Suited For

HDD suited users

Users who frequently download multimedia and consider themselves enthusiasts: Video hoarders require storage, and these days it's simple and inexpensive to acquire 8 terabytes of hard drive space or more.

No difference there for thrifty purchasers. Large amounts of reasonably priced storage space. Customers looking to spend less than $300 on a computer will not be able to afford an SSD.

Technical artists and engineers: The storage needs of those working in video and photography are greater than those of the average person. Although the difference is narrowing, it is still more cost-effective to replace or add a 2TB hard drive than a 500GB SSD.

Users in general: It's hard to tell with these people. For users who like to download and store massive amounts of media files locally, an SSD's high upfront cost makes it unrealistic. For the same price, a smaller SSD will provide a better experience if you do most of your media consumption via streaming services.

Best SSD-suited users

Those who frequently toss their laptops and Notebooks into random bags while traveling would benefit from the added protection offered by a solid-state drive (SSD). When you slam that laptop shut in a hurry to catch your flight, it might not be completely asleep. Utility personnel and academic scholars are also included in this category.

Spend the extra cash on an SSD if you're a speed demon and need instantaneous boot times and application launches. If you need more room, add a hard disc or solid-state storage device (see below).

Technical artists and engineers: Even though we already established that they require hard drives, the speed of an SSD could mean the difference between completing two and five proposals for your client. Dual-drive systems are ideal for these types of users (again, more on that below).

Producers and performers of music: The noise of a hard disc is something you don't want to hear when you're trying to record or master music. Choose solid-state drives (SSDs) with lower noise levels.